Second Chances
by Krys-Marie
Summary: After Stefan dies, he reconnects with an old friend and saves her life... But can she save him? (Set right after 5x21) (Next Chapter Estimation: 5/27 - 5/30)
1. Chapter 1

A bright, blinding light over took Stefan after he'd passed through Bonnie. Shielding his eyes, he waited for the light to die down. But he couldn't help himself from thinking about the fight and how quick his death really came. The green-eyed vampire lived for over a century and a half and never once thought he would have gone out like that. After all the things he'd been through, It seemed like he was cheated—dying like that, having his heart ripped out.

It really wasn't all that bad—dying. Thinking back on it, he really didn't register what had happened until he caught the quickly fading sight of his bloody heart outside of his body. He couldn't remember anything after feeling his legs give out from underneath him. The light, cold feeling came quick before he blacked out and left Caroline to grieve over his graying body.

Then he saw Bonnie...

When the light finally gave away, the suave male lowered his arm and opened his eyes. He found himself standing in the middle of an old dirt road with over growth of weeds and roots from the nearby trees. Pouting in confusion, he turned around, looking each way for a sign of where he was. But the only things he could make out were the forest in the night's darkness and the rocky ground under his feet.

Suddenly an impulse to walk forward filled him. The sensation of a light pressure was at his backside, as if being pushed. And when he took a step forward, he realized he couldn't feel the ground under him.

He looked down. He could see his feet were on the ground. But when he focused on the absence of that sense, he quickly knew what it was—He was a ghost. He had no body with nerves to feel his surroundings... But he did remember how things felt. Staring at the ground he remembered what a dirt road felt like under his feet; hard, lumpy, the stones would shift under his feet as he moved. Even the sound of his foot steps on a dirt road came back to him—The gritting crunch.

He stepped forward again. And again he noticed he wasn't feeling the ground. In that instant he began to miss it. But the lack of this sense didn't seem to bother his balance like it should have as he kept walking.

Turning his head this way and that, he looked for something, anything to explain what was going on. Other than the obvious "You're dead" that went through his mind, he still didn't have any idea where he was, or why he was here.

Stefan stopped walking when he noticed the cries of a horse. He looked around him, but it wasn't until he faced forward again did an image fade into view, growing so vivid as the area transformed to an instantly familiar scene. From where he stood, Stefan could make out the form of himself and Damon helping Katherine out of the carriage on the night of the vampire raid in eighteen sixty-four.

A panic gave the illusion of his chest tightening as he watched the scene.

Damon had pulled the mouth piece off of a sedated Katherine. They were untying the ropes around her wrists as the sounds of horses and men shouting echoed in the distance. His past self was urging his brother to hurry.

_Bang!_

Stefan jumped hearing the gun shot as he watched himself and his brother. Then he watched as Damon collapsed to the ground and die, his past self going to him, calling his name to get him to respond.

Shouts came from behind him. Turning to look from the scene, he recognized the men coming at him and running through his ghostly body as they yelled to shoot his past self. He turned his attention back on the scene in time to watch as he had grabbed the rifle of the man Damon had knocked out.

_Bang!_

His past self was shot. He had struggled to keep up for a moment, but he couldn't manage it. He'd fallen to the ground with the gun still in his hand.

His green eyes were wide in the shock of watching himself and his brother die. Looking around at the fading edges of the vision, he stepped back and watched as scene disappeared completely, leaving him back in the strange forest from before. Only now he recognized it. It was the same place, only aged a century and half with taller trees and thicker bushes. This is where he and Damon had died all those years ago.

Stefan took a deep breath, more out of habit than anything else, as it didn't seem to relieve him at all. He was confused. He'd returned to the place of his original death, and now he was left standing there in a troubled, lost state.

A bright flash suddenly caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. He turned around to look at it and saw the space of air near him had a rippling look. The center expanded and revealed a blurred, wavy scene of two people talking. The voices coming from inside it were familiar, and soon the people came into focus. Stepping towards the rippling image, Stefan peered in at the scene of his brother and Elena talking, their conversation sounding alien as the words echoed and faded into each other. Lifting a hand, Stefan reached out to the strange window of the scene and his hand slipped through. Surprised, he stepped closer, pushing in his whole arm. He looked the window to Damon and Elena up and down briefly and pulled his arm back. Looking his arm over, he saw it wasn't harmed. He stared back to the window curiously, and hesitantly stepped closer and leaned into it.

"I just miss him so much..." Elena's voice cracked as she used her hand to wipe her tears.

"I know. I do too," Damon responded in a gentle tone.

Instantly Stefan saw Damon and Elena sitting in the living room of the boarding house. He leaned in more and stepped forward. The rest of his body passed into the room, and the rippling window behind him showed the forest where he was just standing. He turned his head back to Damon and Elena.

"I can't believe he's gone, Damon."

"We'll be alright, Elena."

"That's not the point! He's dead, Damon!"

The raven haired vampire rose to his feet with a scowl. "Yeah, I know that! You think I don't miss him too?! I may have been a dick to him but it didn't mean I didn't care about him! I just wanted to make his life miserable, not for him to die!"

Elena didn't respond. She just looked at Damon with tears in her eyes.

Damon sucked in a breath and let it go with a heavy sigh as he watched her. He then stepped towards her and reached out to pull her into a hug. She met with his chest and began to cry as her arms wrapped around him.

"Guys," Stefan called. But the two grieving vampires didn't respond to him. "Hey!" He shouted. Still they didn't seem to hear him. Stefan clenched his jaw, then shouted again, "Hey! Elena! Damon!" But they still couldn't hear him. They couldn't see him even as he stepped right over to them. His efforts to touch and push them also went unnoticed as his hands passed through them.

Stefan stepped back and watched as Damon and Elena stayed in each others' arms. A sense of frustration came to him as he watched them, unable to talk to either of them. Stepping back again, he turned and walked out of the room. Not a sound came from him as he made his way up the stairs and up to his room. A floor board in the steps that usually creaked under his weight stayed silent as he stepped on it to reach his door. Grasping for the door knob, his hand passed right through it. He paused for a second and stared at his hand and the door. Uncertain, he pushed his hand at the door and it went through without any difficulty. Then stepping forward, he walked through the door into his dark room.

His room had a small build up of dust coating everything. He walked around his room with a frown, looking at everything while trying to gauge just how long he'd been gone for this amount of dust to have taken over his room. Stepping over to his desk he let his finger tips attempt to graze along the surface, only for them to pass through the wood. His computer's screen had been turned off and it too had a thin sheet of dust covering the glass. Then he saw his ring sitting next to his keyboard. It was covered in the gray filth, having been sitting there for a while. It was becoming obvious that some time had passed since he was killed. His brows furrowed in confusion. _Just how long had it been_, he thought.

He looked up at his room and wandered around it silently as he tried to find any clues. But all he had saw was what he had left there and a few things out of place. He didn't think much of it. He hadn't left his ring in here the night he died. Someone must have come in here to mourn over him and looked through a few of his things. Stefan stopped at his table and stared at one of his journals that was left opened. His eyes scanned the page. It was an entry from before he was turned into a vampire.

_August 3, 1864:_

_I met up with Henrietta at her father's shop this morning. I wasn't expecting to see her there. She told me she was helping her father finish a few suits so he could catch up on orders, but I didn't hear the rest of what she told me. I had become distracted by her smile as she sewed a button into a jacket and I had forgotten that I had brought in father's vest for repairs until she asked about it. I think I made a fool of myself. I babbled like an idiot and could feel my face heat up as I struggled to answer her. She laughed at me. But I'm fooling myself; She doesn't feel the same way towards me. She likes Damon._

Stefan hadn't thought of Henrietta in so long. She was one of his best friends before he'd met Katherine. He, Damon, and Henrietta grew up together in Mystic Falls, and as they grew, Henrietta had told him that she "fancied" his brother. While at first it didn't bother him, he eventually began to have feelings for her, especially when Damon had left for the war and he had spent more time with her. But Stefan recalled not paying much attention to Henrietta once Katherine had arrived in Mystic Falls. _Katherine's doing no-doubt_, he thought. He probably had been compelled to ignore her so he'd spend his time with the vampire instead.

_That bitch._

He stood there, staring at the journal entry. Slowly his eyes shifted around the table and he noticed an old photo with the edges slightly torn and the parchment yellowed from age. He recognized the faded black and white face instantly.

She had long, dark tight curls that draped her shoulders, big dark eyes and light skin. But the photo didn't show the details he remembered. He could remember her in greater detail. That long dark hair was a smooth chocolate brown and it shined a halo crown in the sun, highlighting some stray rusted strands. Those eyes were a brilliant shade of hazel speckled with red and gold in the centers. Her skin was the color of porcelain and held a lively glow no matter how much or little light she stood in. Her full, red lips always curled so slight dimples appeared in creases of her cheeks. He could even remember her voice and laugh holding that sweet, feminine tone with that old southern accent.

It was Henrietta. He'd managed to keep her picture even after being forced to forget her. It must have been in this journal the whole time, protected and forgotten.

Stefan wished he could have apologized to her. To tell her what had happened all those years ago. But he didn't even know what happened to her. There was no doubt in his mind that she had died a century ago. But she would have passed on. She wouldn't be stuck here on The Other Side like he was. Stefan thought if he could have gone back in time to find out what happened to her, he would have.

A sudden flash caught his attention. Looking up, he saw another ripple effect in front of him. Like the other, it expanded and revealed an image. Stepping towards it, Stefan watched as the vision formed.

He could make out an old stair case surrounded in pristine antique furniture and stepped through, more confidently than before. He walked into the vision and found himself in a foyer of red painted walls and gold bordering. It only took him a minute to realize that he had stepped into a house from the eighteen hundreds.

The front door swung open with a powerful force as a panicked, yellow primped southern belle rushed in. Her face was laden with fear as she pulled up the bottom of her dress and ran up the narrow stairs. Her boots thumped on the hard wood floors as she ran into a bedroom where various books had been stacked in every corner, bookshelves tightly packed, and tables littered with open leather bound journals.

Stefan appeared in the doorway as she opened her closet and an avalanche of clothes and sheets came pummeling down in front of her. She climbed over the pile and reached into the closet, pulling out a large suitcase and throwing it onto her featherbed. She began grabbing seemingly random clothes and wadding them up carelessly in the suitcase and grabbed the journals that were on the table.

Stefan watched as she moved quickly, stuffing her bag full and struggling to close it. His eyes narrowed in his confusion. "What's going on?..." He asked aloud.

Henrietta froze and gave a cautious look in his direction.

Startled, Stefan continued to watch her for a moment. But when she didn't look away and continue her packing, he turned to look behind him.

Henrietta had straightened and looked at her doorway cautiously. Her autumn eyes locked on the spot where Stefan was standing. "Show yourself," She demanded with a nervous tone.

Stefan's head turned back around to see her staring at him with a weary expression. But her features grew hard after a moment of silence.

"I said, show yourself!" She demanded louder with authority.

Stefan's face flinched. He wondered if she was talking to him, if she had heard him speak just a moment ago. Deciding to try again, he called her name hesitantly, "Henrietta?"

Her face tightened. Her painted lips thinned as she sensed a presence standing there. "Who's there?"

Stefan's brows rose. She was responding to him! "Henrietta? Can you hear me?" He asked.

Her eyes narrowed now. She couldn't hear him, but she felt as if someone was asking her a question. Stepping towards her door, she reached out blindly, unable to see him. Stefan stood still as her pale hand came closer. When her finger tips grazed his spectral chest, he watched in shock as she quickly retracted her arm and stood back as fear claimed her features.

His eyes widened. She'd felt him. "Henrietta? It's me. It's Stefan. Don't be scared!" He told her and took a step forward.

Henrietta stepped back again as she felt the presence come closer. "Stay back!" she ordered, and Stefan stopped.

"Henrietta. It's Stefan. Stefan Salvatore. I'm not going to hurt you," He tried to reassure her, his tone nearly pleading.

Images of the smoothed-backed haired brother flashed in her head. The fearful expression faded from her face as a calming sense came over her. "Stefan...?"

A smile pulled at his lips. He was getting through to her. He took another step towards her, but slower.

A shaky breath escaped her as she stared at the empty space in front of her. Memories of Stefan began to fill her head, from when they were kids and used to throw rocks into the river, to when they were grown and he had taught her how to ride his horse, Mezzanotte. As she drew in another breath to calm herself, Stefan's form came to quick view in front of her. Her breath escaped her as she looked up at his smiling face. "Stefan..." she uttered.

His eyes flinched slightly as she said his name again. Her eyes had been looking directly up at him rather than through him. He tilted his head down curiously as he watched her shocked face. "Henrietta?" He said cautiously. Seeing her eyes widen he pulled back a bit. Then his eyes narrowed at her. "... Can you see me?"

She began to nod slowly, her large doe-eyes locked on him.

A relieved shock passed through him and he smiled again to her. "You can hear me..." he said, realizing he was successfully communicating with her.

"Yes." She nodded again and inhaled sharply before her eyes wandered, looking him up and down.

"Don't be scared. I'm not here to hurt you."

She stuttered. "I'm not scared. I'm shocked."

Relief was still washing over Stefan.

She looked back up at him. "Why are you here?" she asked him in that lovely, old Virginian accent

He shook his head, his lips parted. "I don't know."

"What are you wearing?" She abruptly asked, her features scrunching as she looked him over again.

His brows knitted for a second before he looked himself over. He was wearing the clothes he'd died in in two thousand fourteen. A grin forced its way to his face and he looked back to her, then he frowned.

"Henrietta... I was turned into a vampire in eighteen sixty four," he told her in a soft tone.

"What?" she looked back up to his face with horror striking her own.

"The night Damon and I died, we turned. We had Katherine's blood in our system."

A shock filled her as he told her. Blinking back tears she stepped back and sat on her bed. "But... but they said you were killed by vampires," she told him. "You died bravely fighting the vampires."

"No." Stefan stepped towards her, shaking his head. "We tried to save Katherine that night. We were shot."

Her eyes closed and her head shook. "No..."

"Yes! Henrietta, we were shot for trying to rescue Katherine."

"No... No, why would the town lie?"

"Because our father is the one who shot us!"

Her breath escaped her again and she looked back up to him with tears in her eyes. "What?"

"My father shot us. He's the one who killed us. My father lied to make us look better and not like vampire sympathizers." His brows suddenly tightened. Stefan didn't know Henrietta had been aware of the vampires in town. "How do you know about the vampires?" He asked.

"..." She stared at him silently for a moment and wiped her eyes with her fingers which smudged her makeup. She drew in a stiff breath. "I've known about them..."

A look of disbelief came over Stefan's face.

"I'm a witch. My father is one. He told me about them... He warned me."

"If you knew about them, why didn't you know about Katherine?"

"I did!" she cried.

His brows tightened again and his jaw line hardened.

"I knew what she was when I first saw her. I told my father, and he told yours."

He continued to watch her as she spoke.

"I couldn't stand to see you and Damon being used like that!" She shouted in tears. "I noticed it the first time I saw you with her," she told him, "We had made plans to go to the town's anniversary celebration. But you told me you didn't remember and had made a promise to Katherine for the day."

"You knew we were being compelled..." He stated softly. Memories struggled to come back to him. He could only faintly make out the image of him and Henrietta talking before Katherine had come up to him and pulled him away from her.

"...Then Katherine came up to you and took your arm. The second you looked at her I noticed a glazed look in your eyes as you smiled to her and turned to walk away with her... But she looked back at me and gave me a grin. It gave me chills, Stefan..." She trailed off with concern.

"You were trying to help us..." he said, realizing she had been behind that whole mess the entire time.

She nodded. "I didn't mean for it to end up the way it did. I'm so sorry."

"No, Henrietta, it's alright. Don't apologize."

"But you and Damon..."

"We were alright," He reassured her. Granted, he and Damon had gone through all different levels of Hell over the past century and a half, but they had been fine... Well at least Damon had. Stefan was dead after all.

Henrietta held back tears as she thought of what she had done. She thought If she had kept quiet, maybe Stefan and Damon would have grown old and died as normal in town.

"No... No, Henrietta, don't cry. You did the right thing."

"How can you say that?!" She yelled at him. "You're dead!"

"I would have died anyway." He crouched down so he could look into her eyes evenly. "Katherine would have turn me no matter what."

She shook her head. She was in denial of what he was trying to tell her.

"Trust me, Henrietta. Katherine is worse than you think she is..."

"Was..." She corrected him.

Stefan's brows knotted in confusion. "What?"

"Katherine _was_ worse than I thought..." she told him and wiped her eyes again.

He thought about it for a moment. She sounded like she was saying Katherine was dead, and while she was dead in two thousand fourteen, he was talking to Henrietta in the eighteen hundreds. He started shaking his head slowly again. "No, Henrietta. Katherine wasn't burned in the church."

"She's trapped under it, I know."

"No."

Henrietta stared at him.

"Katherine escaped. She was never in the church at all."

"What? But—"

"She's not there, Henrietta. She's probably across the country by now... How long has it been?"

"A few months..." She gave him a confused look.

"She's long gone by now," he told her.

Henrietta continued to look at him in shock and disbelief. She'd been told that all the vampires in town had been burned in Fell's Church, and then told by her father never to go to the sight, that the vampires were actually trapped underneath in the church's tomb by magic.

As he watched her quietly, Stefan's leaf-green eyes shifted to the bulging suitcase next to her and he remembered that she had been in a hurry. His brow crinkled. He looked back to her. "What's going on? Why are you packing?"

She blinked at him, then grew a distant look in her eyes as she remembered what she had been doing before sensing his presence. Her head turned back at her suitcase and a curse left her lips in a hush. She stood quickly from her bed, rushing through Stefan's form as she moved to the suitcase and heaved it off the mattress. "I have to go. I can't stay here. They're going to be coming for me."

"What?" He rose and stepped in front of her. "Who's coming for you?"

"The town. They found out about the witches. Other nearby towns are gathering them. My father was taken earlier today. They know I'm a witch too, Stefan," She told him in a panic.

Stefan's eyes widened. "The hundred witches..." he mused as he remembered the cottage that Bonnie had gained power from one hundred dead witches in.

"What?" Henrietta stared at him.

"One hundred witches are burned in a cottage in town..."

Her lips parted as she took a breath. "When?"

"Eighteen sixty-four," he told her slowly.

Her lips closed and she looked away. "I have to leave... Now," she said. Fear had come back to her face as she stepped around him and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?"

"Anywhere but here!" She shouted as she lugged the heavy suitcase down the stairs.

Stefan watched her as she strained down the stairs and thought he would have taken the luggage for her if he could have. Following her down the stairs, he seemed to glide in his descent. "Henrietta, they're going to be looking for you everywhere!"

"That's why I have to go now!" she yelled back at him as she reached the last step.

_No, she can't die like this, _he thought. _She's never hurt anyone... _Stefan's foot hit the floor just as she opened the front door.

A gun shot boomed through the house.

Henrietta was thrown to the floor. A man Stefan didn't recognize with a blonde, curling beard was standing in the door with a rifle aimed at the brunette. Dark red stains were forming on her corset.

"No!" Stefan yelled and rushed to her side, utterly useless to aid her.

Henrietta coughed his name as she struggled to catch her breath. Spittle of blood had begun to spot her lips as the man stepped into the house.

"It's a shame you're so pretty. You would have made a fine wife if you were human," He told her with a gruff and aimed the barrel of his rifle to her head.

Stefan didn't know what to do. Panic had taken over his face as sat there, wishing, praying that she wouldn't die like this. Henrietta coughed again as she stared down the barrel of the gun. Gasping for a breath, she strained to call Stefan's name again. Hearing her plead for his help tore whatever kind of heart he had left as he looked down to her.

The sound of the rifle cocking stole Stefan's attention. In a split second he could feel a sudden surge of power and anger go through him. Before he knew what he was doing, he lunged at gunman.

Another gunshot rang through the house.

The rifle had fallen out of the man's hands and clattered to the floor. The man was against the wall, slouched on the floor and Henrietta laid where she had been. Struggling to breathe, she used her elbows to prop herself up enough so that she could turn over. Blood spilled from her mouth as she coughed, creating a small pool on the floor underneath her. Using a shaking hand, she dipped her fingers into the blood and began to smear it into a circle while trying to utter incoherent words.

The man's eyes slowly opened. A painful groan escaped him as he strained to stand, but paused when he noticed Henrietta drawing in her blood. A confused expression washed over his face as he continued to watch her and his eyes widened when her body suddenly collapsed.

"Henrietta!" He called out, but was surprised by his own voice. Looking himself over, his brows knitted at the sight of his old, dirty clothes and rough hands.

Movement pulled his attention away from himself. He looked up and watched as Henrietta pushed herself up with her arms weakly, then fell onto her side as she gasped for a breath. Getting the air she needed, her body relaxed back onto the floor.

The man pushed himself up and walked over to her, a deep concern in his eyes as he looked down at her. Henrietta's eyes had shifted up to him with a blank expression before they closed and she took a few deep breaths. She opened her eyes after a moment and stared at the male standing over her.

"Henrietta?" He called softly and crouched down next to her.

Her eyes followed him calmly, watching the older man next to her. "Thank you," she told him.

He nodded and fell to a sit on the floor with a sigh of relief.

Henrietta then pushed herself up off the floor and to her feet with a wince. "Get out of him."

He pouted with confusion.

"You're possessing him, Stefan," She told him and bent down to grab the rifle off the floor.

Stefan looked himself over again. Then he scanned the room with stolen blue eyes. He no longer saw the gunman. He _was_ the gunman. "How do I get out?" he asked.

"Were these made with iron, Stefan?" She asked, holding up the rifle.

Confusion came to his face again. "Uh... Yeah, I think so, wh—"

Henrietta had swung the rifle at him. The barrel crashed into the side of his skull. Stefan's form was immediately thrown from the body and dispersed as the man fell over and slammed into the floor. The side of his head bled as he laid there unconsciously.

She dropped the gun with a sigh as she watched the man on the floor and frowned. She thought of this being the first time she'd hurt someone. Watching the man's chest as it rose and fell slowly with his breaths, Henrietta stepped back, then looked around for Stefan. He was no where to be seen. She couldn't sense him. Looking to the rifle on the floor, she knew its iron frame had repelled Stefan's ghost temporarily. But she didn't know for how long.

She stepped over to her suitcase and grabbed the leather handle, pulling it up off the floor, and she moved for the door. Stopping in the doorway she turned and looked back to the gunman. She wasn't sure if he was going to live, and she thought of burning him to ensure her escape. But she didn't want to hurt him. She didn't want to become one of those witches. Looking away and into the snow-covered town, Henrietta dragged her suitcase out the door and into the cold night.


	2. Chapter 2

Stefan woke up in the dark, covered in a mist on the ground. His eyes shifted around at his surroundings. A cracked headstone was next to him with a name so caked with dirt and moss that he couldn't read it. There were thin, leafless trees in every direction as he sat up and looked around. Grave markers were everywhere, all in less than ideal conditions and covered in dirt and over growth. Turning his head to look in another direction, he noticed other people sitting around with dreadful looks on their faces. Stefan's features hardened in his confusion and he rose to his feet. Looking around again, he didn't recognize where he was or know how he got there.

He tried to remember the last thing he saw before waking up in the cemetery. It was Henrietta after she'd swung the rifle at him. He'd caught a split second view of her and the gunman falling to the floor as he was thrown from the body. Everything after that was a blank. Stefan wasn't sure if Henrietta had managed to get away that night or not. If she had been caught and burned, or if she'd been able to run out of town to save herself. But thoughts of him being inside the gunman came back to him.

He wasn't sure how he'd done it. All he remembered was feeling powerless to help Henrietta, then all at once he felt an overwhelming flow of emotions rush over him. Anger. He was angry—furious that someone would hunt her down. She'd done nothing wrong. But that was humans, always jumping to conclusions, scared of things they didn't understand and deemed them evil... He was starting to scare himself with that thought, but he could feel his anger start to rise again. Suddenly he thought of Julian ripping out his heart. Stefan didn't kill Maria. Liv and Luke did. He didn't deserve to die for it.

A flash of light suddenly appeared in front of him. Lifting an arm he shielded his eyes until the blinding light faded. He dropped his arm and opened his eyes to find another bright, rippling light directly in front of him. An image came into focus and began to show himself as he was when he was standing with Caroline in the parking lot.

_Caroline had wondered what was taking Bonnie so long and Stefan said he would go and find out. That's when Julian came up to them and asked about Maria. Stefan had to tell him that his wife was dead, that the witches killed her. But Julian didn't want to listen to him, he wanted revenge. Stefan was shoved back and he tried to calm Julian down; He didn't want to fight. They would find a way to save everyone even if Mystic Falls was gone. __And then Caroline tried to break Julian's neck..._

_The scene changed, something else happened. Julian suddenly fell to the ground as if hit. Stefan and Caroline had confused looks on their faces as they looked down at Tyler's body, then suddenly his eyes opened. They shifted to Stefan and watched him for a moment before they closed again._

_The vision began to fade to black, then refocused on the image of him in the forest after he'd crossed over. As soon as he recognized the scene, his form began to fade away and the vision faded to black once again._

_It refocused again. This time it showed Henrietta with her suitcase as she opened the front door of her house. The gunshot boomed. She fell back to the floor as blood began to stain her dress. And Stefan's form faded away again as he had rushed down the stairs to go to her side._

Stefan looked away from the vision as the gunman walked into the house. He heard another shot and knew he hadn't saved her that time.

"You shouldn't mess with the past, Mate," a familiar voice said behind him.

Stefan opened his eyes when heard it. Clenching his jaw, he turned around and looked up to see Kol leaning against a tree with his arms crossed and a grin stretched across his face. "..." Stefan watched him for a moment, unsure if he was really seeing him or not.

Kol's features stiffened as the two of them locked eyes. He pushed himself off the tree and started to walk to him. "Ever since this place has started falling apart, these things have been popping up whenever we think about someone or some place," He told him and looked at the torn space that showed Stefan the images.

Stefan turned to look at the vision again, but this time found it displaying himself about to be killed by Julian again, only now he could see his spirit about to possess him. But he'd faded away just like he had in the forest and with Henrietta.

Stefan's green eyes locked on the scene as he watched Julian rip his heart out.

"Seems to me that if you stop Julian from killing you, then you never come here and aren't able to save your friend. And if you never die, you can't possess the hybrid to save yourself. That's one hell of a paradox, Mate," Kol said and looked back to him with a serious demeanor. "You're stuck here, darling."

Stefan's jawline hardened and he glanced back to Kol. "There's got to be a way to fix this."

"There is," Kol told him and relaxed his arms to his sides. "The witches are saying that you just started it."

Stefan's brows wrinkled in confusion.

Kol nodded towards the image. "That girl you saved. The witches are saying she could save us."

"Henrietta? Why?" Stefan turned to face him now.

"She was supposed to die. You saved her and inadvertently brought her back. This place is falling apart, you should have never been able to go into the past."

"But she wasn't dead when I saved her. How could I have brought her back?"

"Time is messing up here. It used to run along with the living, now no one knows what time it is." He glanced to the window. "And these things are like tears in the walls of time. Whenever we think of a certain time, a wall rips and allows us to pass through. There's no order here anymore, the walls are crumbling."

Stefan stared at him for a moment. If he shouldn't have been able to go back in time and save Henrietta, then she had most likely been there on the Other Side. But that meant when he saved her she was ripped out and left to continue living.

"So, how does she help?" he asked.

"I don't know," Kol admitted softly. "But she can see you. You have to tell her what's going on." His eyes began to well up with tears. "The witches are saying she can fix this. She has to... Or else we're all done for."

Stefan looked back at the hole in time. It showed nothing but black as he stared at it. "Can you find me if you find anything out?" he asked.

"If I hear the witches say anything that would help her know how to save us, I'll find a way to tell you."

He nodded as a wind began to pick up and thought of Henrietta again, wondering where she was if she had survived that night in eighteen sixty-four. And just as Kol had explained before, the vision changed to feature a content Henrietta surrounded by shelves of books.

The original vampire turned his head to look towards the direction of the wind. "You have to go now!" he shouted and looked back to him. The wind grew more violent and began to toss their hair fiercely and beat at their backs. When someone began screaming, Stefan and Kol looked off to see a woman clinging to a tree as her body was being pulled and lifted by an unseen force. Stefan felt a hand on his shoulder and turned his head in time to see Kol as he pushed him into the portal and rushed off in a blur.

Stefan was thrown and fell through several bookshelves before he came to an abrupt stop on the hard wood floor. Henrietta jumped as she saw a sudden blur fly past her but regained herself just as quick so she wouldn't attract attention to herself. A man had looked up to her when he heard her startle and watched her curiously before Henrietta noticed him and gave him a small smile. "A frightening book..." she breathed. She pretended the book had scared her and placed it back into its place on a shelf.

The man grinned and looked back to business without a word.

Henrietta's head turned and she looked up and down the isle of books to make sure no one was paying her attention. Quickly, she stepped out of the isle and in the direction that the blur flew off in. She found where Stefan was laying on the floor and made her way over to him in a brisk.

"Stefan?" She whispered in shock. "What happened?"

He looked up to her with wide eyes. His eyes traced her form from her hair bunched up in the back, to her lavender dress, right down to the intricate embroidering on the skirt's hem. Stefan began to recognize the dress from his past and moved to get to his feet, but he couldn't remember when he'd seen her dress before. On habit he reached out to a shelf to pull himself up, and to his surprise his hand hadn't gone through and he had actually used the shelf to help lift himself. But as soon as he remembered that that shouldn't have happened, his hand passed through. Confused, Stefan pulled his hand away and stared at it for a second before looking back to Henrietta.

She had her own muddled expression on her face; She'd saw him just shift a book slightly when he pulled himself up. Looking back up to him, they shared the same surprised look.

"Did I just...?" Stefan trailed off, whispering just in case he could be heard too.

She nodded.

Then it occurred to Stefan that Enzo had been able to affect the physical world because the Other Side was breaking down. Looking back to the book shelf, Stefan reached out to touch an old, thick, leather bound. His finger tips grazed through the spine of the book and he pulled his hand back. A determined look crossed his face and he stepped up to it, locking his eyes on the book.

Henrietta looked around to see if anyone was watching. But when she heard a dragging sound, she turned back around in time to see the book in Stefan's hand as he held it. Henrietta's eyes grew wide as she looked up to him, his own surprise on his face.

"Are you alright, Miss?"

Henrietta shot her arm out when she heard the strange voice approaching and grabbed the book from Stefan. She turned around when the sound of the floor boards creaking under the stranger's weight were right behind her.

"Miss?" The man asked, a look of concern on his face.

"Oh! Yes. I'm fine, sir." She smiled to him.

"Do you have an escort?"

"..." Henrietta fell silent for a second as she looked at him. He obviously couldn't see Stefan behind her, and she obviously couldn't tell this man that the spirit of her friend was with her. _I'd be committed for saying such a thing,_ she thought then shook her head slowly.

He nodded to her, that concerned look still on his face. "Are you sure you're well? I spotted you rushing over here just a moment ago."

"Yes. I'm quite fine. I just needed some air," she told him politely as she noticed the open window only a few feet away.

He nodded again, then smiled to her and took his leave quietly.

When he was out of sight and ear shot, she sighed in relief and turned back around to face Stefan, only to see him now leaned against the bookshelf with his arms crossed and a grin stretched across his face.

"I didn't know you could act," he said.

A rose hue painted her cheeks and she gave him a disapproving look. "Well, I can't very well tell him I'm talking to a ghost, Stefan," she whispered in grievance. She then looked down to the book in her hand and noticed a strange aura coming from it. Her brows knitted and she began to undo the buckle that held it closed.

Stefan noticed her confusion. "What is it?" he asked and stepped over to her to look at the book.

"Something feels wrong..." She told him and pulled the buckle, releasing the lock and opening the cover. Hand written words covered the first page with little drawings of various pentagrams. Henrietta gasped as her eyes scanned the page.

"Is that a grimoire?" Stefan asked in shock.

She nodded as she flipped through a few pages, but a look of disgust washed over her features.

He noticed. "What?"

"These are very dark spells... Possession, curses, summoning death..." She closed the book quickly and shut her eyes as she tried to rid the evil ideas from her mind.

"What's it doing here?"

She shook her head. "I haven't an idea... But it should be destroyed." She looked back to him, her expression grown hard. "It certainly should not be here..." She told him and looked around. "Is anyone looking?"

Stefan cocked a brow and turned his head to look, he even glanced around for security cameras, but remembered they didn't exist in the eighteen hundreds. "No, why?" He turned his head back towards her and froze as he saw her rolling up the skirt of her dress. She took the inner-most layer and rolled the book in it, tying it so the grimoire sat in a makeshift hammock. She quickly pulled the other layers of her dress down over it and smoothed the skirt, hiding any visible sign that she was carrying anything. Stefan looked back up to her with raised brows.

She'd blushed again as she looked to him, realizing he'd seen her inexpressibles. Henrietta didn't say anything to him and turned back around towards the bookshelf. Looking over the various titles, she stretched to reach a copy of The Scarlet Letter on the top shelf. As soon as she had pulled it down, she turned and walked off towards the store's clerk.

~ღ~

"Are we in New York?" Stefan asked as he walked with Henrietta down the side walk. Passersby were walking around her but unknowingly walking right through Stefan. Even though he couldn't be seen, he still walked on her right, between her and the road.

"Mhm..." She didn't move her lips, least she'd be seen talking to herself in the crowded streets.

"How long has it been since you ran from Mystic Falls?" He was glancing around at the bustle of the city and watched as horse drawn carriages carried people up and down the cobblestone roads. But he'd noticed a tapping sound and Henrietta's hand moving out of the corner of his eye. He focused back on her. She was tapping four fingers against the back of the grimoire as she carried it in her hands now and held it close to her. His brows rose in slight shock. "Four years?!" he exclaimed.

Her fingers stopped abruptly. They started tapping again in a seemingly sporadic pattern. It took Stefan a minute, but he soon realized she was tapping in Morse code.

"Months?..." He asked. Stefan hadn't used Morse code for over a hundred years, he wasn't sure he'd translated it right.

"Mhm."

"Eighteen sixty-five?"

"Mhm."

"How long have you been here?"

She began tapping three fingers on the book.

Stefan watched her fingers for a moment, then looked away and back to the city. "I need to tell you something, but we should find someplace private. Do you live around here?"

"Mhm..." Her response trailed for second, then she turned down narrow passage way between two buildings and quickly made her way to a door. She opened it and stepped inside. The door had closed heavily behind her and Stefan passed through it to follow her up a few flights of narrow stairs until she came to another door. Henrietta reached a hand down her dress and fished for something. But after a few seconds of not finding it, she pulled her hand out and turned her head towards Stefan. She then glanced up and down the barren hall before holding the grimoire out to him silently.

He looked at it, then he also looked around to make sure no one was coming. Turning back to the book, he reached out cautiously and tried to grip it, but his hand went through it. A frown appeared on his face and he tried again, this time mentally telling the book to stay in his hand. He gripped it successfully and Henrietta slowly let go of it, ready to catch it in case Stefan lost his hold.

After a second of watching to make sure, she looked back up and down the hall and slipped her hand back into her dress. She felt around for something for a second. "Oh, for Christ's sake!" She hissed in a hush as she bent forward a bit and reached a little deeper into her corset. Finally she'd pulled out a key and huffed as she unlocked her door. Looking back to take the grimoire from Stefan, she realized what had just come out of her mouth and blushed again. "My apologies," she mouthed and slowly took the book from him as shame spread across her face.

"Don't worry about it, in the future that's not nearly as offensive as it is now." Stefan grinned and fallowed her into the apartment.

As soon as the door closed she spoke softly, "The future sounds horribly barbaric..."

He chuckled and looked around at the small, two room apartment. He wasn't surprised when he noticed books beginning to clutter in the corners. "Well it sounds cute coming from you," he teased and looked back to her as she stepped over to her table and set the grimoire down carefully.

"Oh, don't you sweet talk me, Stefan Salvatore," she said, flustered, and turned her head to look at him. "What do you need to tell me?"


	3. Chapter 3

Henrietta's eyes had been scanning pages of the grimoire as Stefan spoke to her. Deep sighs escaped her every so often as the horrible news of the travelers and the Other Side came spilling out to her. She wasn't sure how long Stefan had been explaining the future, but she judged by the lack of light in the room that the sun had nearly set.

With a bit of will power, a candle seemingly lit itself next to her and provided and orange glow of light to read by. Her hand came up and rubbed her eyes for a moment to ease the ache that came with reading in dim lighting.

"The witches seem to think that you can save it, Henrietta..." Stefan told her in a soft tone. His eyes were trained out the window on the sight of children playing stick-ball in the street.

She sucked in a deep breath and let her hand drop to the table as she gave him a half-lidded stare. "I don't know what to do, Stefan. I'm only a simple witch, I don't raise the dead or what-have-you." Her head shook on the fist supporting her cheek and her eyes drifted back down to the table. "This... This is all very overwhelming. Why do the witches think _I_ could save everyone?"

"I don't know." He turned his attention back to her and came over to the table. Stefan managed to pull out a chair so he could take a seat across from her. A sigh left him as looked at the table. "I'm sorry I put this on you-"

"Don't apologize for saving my life," she interrupted him.

Stefan's mouth opened to say something in response, but nothing came out. He just closed it and looked back up to her.

"If the witches believe I can do it, then I must... I only wish they sent you with a manual." A frown pulled at her face and she lifted her head from her fist. She lazed back into her chair and looked over to him.

"I asked someone to keep me updated if he heard anything."

Her brown eyes reflected the candle flame as she watched him, then she nodded while raising a brow and turned her attention back to the opened grimoire. She'd only read a few of the pages, but they took her minutes, maybe even hours to understand. She wasn't as advanced as the witch who had written it.

"I really wish you wouldn't read that," Stefan pleaded.

"I can't help it," She told him and straightened her back. Leaning forward she took hold of the book and began to read through the complicated spells again. "It calls to me..."

"That's probably a good reason to _not_ read it then. You said yourself that it's dark."

"Yes, and it's highly complicated. I can barely grasp the ones I've read." She flipped a page and her brows scrunched together as she struggled to continue reading. But her head began to shake. "The spells in this grimoire-... Why would anyone want to trap spirits?"

"What?" He asked.

"This one here," She began, "It speaks of trapping spirits and absorbing their energy."

"Spirits as in ghosts?"

Her shoulders came up towards her ears as she shook her head again. She didn't know. "The incantation tells me that it's spirit magic acting to imprison a spirit. But the next part of the spell is clearly not spiritual. No spirit would allow such a thing..." Henrietta's eyes continued to shift through the sloppy handwriting, but a sudden deep chill through her spine made her eyes stop and her hands slowly place the grimoire back on the table.

Stefan noticed her subtle change of expression and watched her carefully. She'd glanced up at him then seemed to stare over his head. Furrowing his brows, he turned in his seat to look back but was thrown across the room before he caught sight of what hit him.

Henrietta jumped up from her seat and backed away from the table. Her eyes frantically searched for whatever threw Stefan, but the force was invisible to her. As she took another step back, she was suddenly struck into a wall.

Regaining himself, Stefan opened his eyes and saw Henrietta being pinned to the wall by a man who he quickly recognized from Sloan's coven. It was one of the travelers who'd sacrificed themselves in order to bring Markos back. The traveler had begun uttering words Stefan couldn't understand and Henrietta began to choke. Pulling himself to his feet, he shouted to try to get the traveler's attention, but he'd ignored Stefan and kept speaking his incantation.

Stefan could feel that rage start to fill him again, just as it had when that gunman had stood over Henrietta with the barrel of the rifle aimed for her head. His eyes darkened. Blood vessels protruded on his face. And in a flash of vampiric speed, Stefan had grabbed the ghost of the witch and threw him onto the counter. "Henrietta, it's a traveler!" he yelled to her as his hand grabbed at the man's neck and squeezed. It was a failed attempt to choke the witch, Stefan realized, when he remembered the traveler was already dead.

Henrietta had slumped to the floor as she held her throat, gasping and heaving for breathes. When she heard Stefan yell to her, she strained for the grimoire.

In a burst of energy, Stefan was thrown across the room again and crashed into the wall, knocking things down before he fell to the floor again. Henrietta cried out as the man began his incantations again which caused her to clutch at her stomach and curl in the pain.

Stefan watched as the witch made his way closer to Henrietta. In another rush, Stefan grabbed him and drove him into the floor which managed to crack the hardwood. But Henrietta was still crying in pain as the witch continued uttering his spell. Stefan's fist met with the traveler's jaw repeatedly as he punched him, silencing the spell.

Henrietta relaxed on the floor as the pain subsided. She looked over to Stefan to see him beating at an empty space then looked back to the table. In a panic, she pushed herself to her feet and reached for the grimoire only to see Stefan get thrown past her and for the grimoire to fly off the table. She was flown back against a wall as the witch stood and continued to speak the spell. "Stefan!" she choked, "Salt!"

Stefan pulled himself from a pile of books and looked up as the witch continued the spell. Looking around the room, his eyes searched for something with salt. He caught sight of a pair of salt and pepper shakers by the wood-stove and rushed for them. Stefan grabbed the salt and turned. He hurled it at the witch's feet. The salt shaker exploded as it collided with the floor and salt crystals flew upwards at the traveler. The man's form suddenly scattered and vanished. Henrietta fell again and took several large breaths as she held herself up off the floor with her arms. But Stefan was looking around for any sign of the traveler.

"Are you alright, Henrietta?" He asked as he glanced over to her. He saw her nod and cough before she picked herself up and hurry over to the grimoire. She picked it up off the floor and opened it.

"Is it coming back?..." she asked with a horse voice.

"I don't know."

"What happened to you after I struck you with the rifle?"

"I woke up in a cemetery." He turned to face her.

She looked at him with an apologetic remorse then back to the grimoire, flipping pages back.

"What are you doing?"

"If it comes back, I'm going to trap it."

"What? No!" Stefan stepped over towards her but was stopped suddenly as he walked into an invisible wall. Looking down, he saw the mess of salt on the floor and stepped back. He turned his eyes back up to her. "Don't mess with dark magic, Henrietta!"

"It's only one spell. I'll be fine," she pressed as she read a page.

Stefan opened his mouth to protest, but the form of the traveler suddenly appeared in front of him with anger stretched across his face. Seeing Stefan stiffen, Henrietta took a few steps back into the mess of salt before Stefan was thrown through the air again. He crashed into a wooden rocking chair as Henrietta began the spell to trap the witch.

"Phasmatos tribum, hoc cohibere spiritus..." She spoke.

The traveler had begun to walk towards Stefan, but it had stopped abruptly in its steps. With confusion washing over his face, the traveler turned around to look at Henrietta.

"Exhaurire animam suam usque ad me!" Henrietta finished and looked up from the book.

The man's face had a look of pure horror when he heard the incantation. Screams erupted from the traveler as his form began to deteriorate, taking on a mist-like form. It was quickly pulled back towards Henrietta and she cried out in pain as it engulfed her and dropped to her knees as it was forcibly sucked into her body.

Stefan watched from across the room silently, in shock of what he had just witnessed. Getting to his feet slowly, he looked over at Henrietta with caution as she sat on the floor, pain covering her face. "Henrietta?..." he called out to her softly and stepped over. He got as close as he could before the salt stopped him.

She thrust the book away from her and cried as tears seeped from her eyes, and shaky breaths escaped her every few seconds.

"Henrietta!" Stefan shouted in worry. When he saw her head begin to shake from side to side he could feel every fiber of his spectral body twist in fear.


	4. Chapter 4

_Henrietta was shaking with fear as she ran down a dark New York street. Her eyes had grown wide and alert as her boots tapped rapidly along the cobblestones. Suddenly a man appeared in front of her with fangs bared and blood dripping from his lips. She let out a scream and turned to run but was faced with another vampire._

_"No! Leave me be!" she cried and backed away from the two._

_"Leave you be?" the first fanged male said with a thick British accent, "But you look so divine, I can't pass you up, dear."_

_"Perhaps we would even have you become one of us," the other added, he too having the accent._

_"No..." She shook her head and continued to back away until her backside pressed against a brick wall. "No... Please," Henrietta begged._

_"Oh, dear, don't be scared. It wont hurt... much" the first vampire told her and grinned, the second had begun to laugh as they closed in on her. "You'll only feel a pinch at first."_

_Henrietta inhaled sharply and brought her hands up to cover both sides of her neck as the first vampire stepped in front of her. Her eyes snapped shut tightly as he leaned towards her and his cold hand grasped her arm to pull her hand away._

_A scream from the other vampire caused the first to recoil. Turning around, he saw a piece of wood sticking out of the other's chest and his body was dropped to the ground. The vampire hissed with bared fangs as it looked to a shadowed assailant. Henrietta opened her eyes when she felt the vampire's hand leave her arm, and when she looked down, she saw the other impaled in the street with a pool of blood beginning to form underneath him._

_"I have a feeling you should be running," the assailant said to the vampire._

_"She's mine!" he shouted back, "First come, first served."_

_The assailant reached down and ripped the wood from the other vampire's body and held it in his hand firmly before his glowing green eyes looked back to him. "She's not on the menu," he told him, and in one blindingly fast motion, the piece of wood had impaled the vampire's chest._

_Henrietta stepped away quickly and watched as the vampire's skin darkened in the dim street lights and as his body collapsed to the sidewalk. Looking back up to the assailant, she stepped away in fright, unable to see his face in the dark. But suddenly the street began to fill with sunlight and Stefan's face was illuminated._

_Relief washed over her when she saw his face and she ran to him. Wrapping her arms tightly around his frame, she buried her face into his chest and begun to cry. She'd felt his arms wrap around her firmly and his chin rest on the top of her head._

_"It's alright," he said softly, "It's just a dream. You're safe..." His voice trailed._

_Her fingers curled into his jacket as she gripped it. "I want to wake up..." she said through tears._

_A frown pulled his features. He knew she couldn't. Taking in the traveler's spirit had caused her to collapse to the floor. Stefan had to watch as neighboring tenants came into the apartment, frenzied from the commotion of the fight. When they found her passed out, a doctor had been called. Now she was laying in her bed and a nurse had took it upon herself to stay until she woke to be certain Henrietta was okay._

_"Well you could... But I think you'd be missing out," he told her with a slight upwards inflection. He hated lying to her, but he didn't want to worry her._

_A look of confusion crossed her face before she lifted her head to look up at him. He grinned at her before he looked off to the side and she followed his gaze._

_The streets were lined with vendors of all sorts and happy people were crowding and walking along. The vampires' bodies were gone with no sign that they were ever there and a tall black horse stood behind her._

_Her eyes widened at the sight and she stepped away from Stefan to stare up at the horse. "... Mezzanotte?" she whispered._

_The horse gave a "Ppbbbtt" and a shake of its head._

_She turned back to Stefan with a smile on her face. "How..?"_

_"It's a dream. You can control it," he told her and stepped over to the copy of his horse from the eighteen hundreds. Lifting a hand he stroked Mezzanotte's muzzle gently as his own memories came back to him. "But I thought you'd like this. You always said you wanted to move to the city when we were kids."_

_"I did... Yes," she said and stepped up to the horse. She lifted a hand to pet his course hair and her smile widened. "And you remembered all this time?"_

_"Well..." a thoughtful expression came to his face. "I was reminded of it when we were walking down the street earlier."_

_"But you remembered..." She looked back at him, her face completely dry of tears and replaced with nothing but happiness._

_He nodded._

_"Thank you." She stepped over to him, her smile stretching her ruby lips softly._

_Stefan smiled back to her. Now that he'd been reminded of her from his journal, Katherine's compulsion had completely faded away from his mind. He remembered everything about Henrietta. From her pet peeves to her favorite food to the direction that her hair curled in. Looking into her eyes, he watched as the red and gold streaks shimmered from the sunlight. Though he wasn't entirely sure if this was his doing or not, being that he was in control of the dream for the moment._

_Henrietta had been looking up into his eyes when an uneasy feeling had begun to churn in her stomach. A pounding in her chest made her hold her breath as her mind went blank. She couldn't help herself from letting her eyes drift down to his lips. And the image of them getting closer as she leaned up to kiss them vividly played in her mind. But her conscious screamed that she knew better than to be that bold._

_Then as if she'd prayed for it, a voice called out for free cannolis._

_Henrietta's head had snapped in the direction of the voice. She breathed in a sharp inhale and smiled before she looked back to Stefan and reached to grab his hand. In mere seconds Henrietta had pulled him through the crowd and found the vendor offering the free pastries. No one had been in line to take up the offer and Stefan smiled when he watched her take one of the cheese filled doughs. He thought to himself that he would remember this if she lived and managed to save everyone. Henrietta had turned to offer him one, but he chuckled and grinned with a shake of his head. "No, thanks. You can have mine," he told her, which seemed to be just fine with her as she took a second cannoli and stepped away._

_Stefan began walking with her down the street. This time people were going around both of them as he stayed on her right, next to the road. He turned his head to glance at her as she took a bite of the pastry and stifled a chuckle when some of the filling stuck to the tip of her nose. Turning his head away, he held the humored grin. But Henrietta had caught sight of his silenced chuckle and looked up to him curiously._

_"What is funny?" She asked._

_"Nothing." His grin threatened to break into a laugh._

_She pouted up to him and stopped in her steps as her brows wrinkled in doubt. "Stefan Salvatore, You tell me what is so humorous," she demanded._

_He let a small chuckle escape him as she made the demand. He found her little huff cute. After looking at her for a moment with his eyes focused on the spot of cheese filling on her nose, Stefan reached out and used his thumb to wipe it off gently._

_"..." She stared at his thumb when he showed her the cream he'd wiped off her face. A red hue spread across her cheeks in the embarrassment and she looked away._

_"Now, if only I could wipe the red off your face," he teased._

_She gasped and pouted to him again. Her face grew a shade darker._

_He laughed and nodded his head back as he turned. Offering his arm to her, he said, "Here," and waited patiently for her to take it._

_Henrietta watched him, then eyed his arm for a second. The blush faded from her cheeks slightly as she slipped her hand around his bicep and walked with him. But as her other hand came up and held on as well, Stefan noticed the cannolis had disappeared, and even the vendor who had still been shouting about them had silenced._

_"I didn't mean to upset you, Henrietta. I was only teasing."_

_"I know..."_

_"Do you?"_

_"Mhm."_

_Stefan glanced over to her. His grin had faded. "Is something wrong?"_

_She didn't say anything at first. Henrietta had seemed to be in the middle of a thought when she finally answered him. "No... I suppose not."_

_"What's that supposed to mean?"_

_"I just... I'm not sure I can do it, Stefan," she told him and her grip on his arm tightened a bit. What she had said had two meanings: Saving the Other Side, and then telling him..._

_"I wont make you do it," he told her softly. "I couldn't. It's a lot to ask." He knew at least that she was talking about saving everyone, but her other thought he remained oblivious to._

_Stefan looked forward again. The bustling city street had become calm with very few people around._

_"But I must," she retorted. "If the witches need me... Then I have no choice."_

_"What do you know about the Other Side?"_

_"Not much..." She sighed. "Only what my father told me, and what you told me."_

_"What did he tell you?"_

_"Well, I'm not sure if it's true. I suppose you'd be more of an expert on it than he was at the time. But he told me it's the after life for all supernatural beings, great and evil. There were rumors that you spend your afterlife in solitude, trapped behind a veil that keeps you from your loved ones where they can't hear or see you. But some gifted individuals are able to, despite the limits."_

_"What about the witches, do you know anything about them?"_

_"Only that I can channel their power if I have to... But I can only use it for reasons they approve of."_

_"When you trapped the witch earlier... Was that spirit magic?"_

_"Yes."_

_"The witches allowed you to absorb him?"_

_"I don't know if that part was from the spirits..."_

_"What could it have been from?"_

_"I haven't an idea..."_

_Stefan fell silent and glanced to her again for a second before looking down at the stone sidewalk. "What about Expression? Could that be what happened?"_

_Henrietta's feet came to a stop and she looked up at him with suspicion in her eyes. "What do you know about Expression?"_

_"One of the witches I know used it to bring down the veil that separates the world from the Other Side. But I'd heard that it was a form of dark magic. Could that be what the grimoire is: an Expression grimoire?"_

_"Expression is strictly forbidden in most covens, if not all. The source of that power..." Her head turned away and began to shake as her words stuttered for a moment. "I-I do not even want to imagine what kind of evil gives that power..."_

_Stefan nodded and turned his head away. Taking another step he allowed them both to continue their walk._

_"But I suppose it is possible that the grimoire holds instructions for such magic," she told him. Then her face took on a curious expression as she looked back up to him. "Did your friend really bring down the veil?"_

_Stefan nodded again. "Yeah."_

_Henrietta's eyes widened, then her lips pulled into a wide grin as she gave a breath of excitement. "That is unbelievable."_

_He chuckled to her as they continued walking. He'd begun to think about what was happening back in twenty-fourteen... Everything was falling apart; The Other Side, Mystic Falls, Magic, Vampirism, Ghosts... But right now everything was fine in good ol' eighteen sixty-five. At least for now. At least in this dream._

_"How am I supposed to save everyone when I'm stuck here?" She suddenly asked him. "How will I make it to this twenty-fourteen?"_

_Stefan sighed. He wasn't even sure how she was going to live that long. Of course if she was turned, that would solve the problem, but then she wouldn't be able to use magic. "I'm not sure," he told her softly. "But I knew a witch once that stalled her aging. Maybe you can too."_

_"... I don't know any spell for that."_

_"We'll figure it out." He brought his right hand up and placed it over both of her's which still rested on his arm. "I promise."_

_She nodded and the street had begun to darken as the sun set. Stefan watched as a man with a pole lit a street lantern. Thinking on the idea of her living to see twenty-fourteen, he wondered if it was even possible. Gloria had stalled her aging, but she hadn't stalled it for a hundred and fifty years. But he had to try and find a way to help her._

_Another thought came to his mind as he glanced down to her hands on his arm. He'd remembered walking with her like this before Katherine had made her debut in Mystic Falls. He used to escort her around town when Damon wasn't. And of course other men in the town had an interest in her and would offer their arms. But he could remember how it made him felt to walk with her; happy, relaxed. Stefan felt comfortable like this, but it'd been a different comfort than it had been with Katherine or Elena. With Katherine it felt exciting, like he was waiting for something to happen at every corner. But for all he knew, that could have been the compulsion making him feel that way. With Elena it felt fresh. It felt like a breath of fresh air after a spring rain fall when he was full of energy to take on the rest of the day in stride. But with Henrietta it just felt... tranquil. Like nothing bad could happen, as if she repelled evil instead of attracted it._

_"Before Katherine came to Mystic Falls, I had wanted to be with you," he said aloud before he could stop himself. Though once the words left his lips, he could feel his chest tighten._

_Henrietta inhaled sharply hearing the sudden change of subject and her eyes widened. Her hands gripped at his arm tightly as she held her breath for her moment of shock."I..." She let her breath go slowly, but nothing but stutters came from her mouth._

_"When you told me you liked Damon, I decided not to tell you," Stefan explained as he watched her face. He had might as well get it all out, now that he'd brought it up._

_Her eyes fluttered as she fought the surprise of his affection. "Stefan... I... I don't know what to say."_

_"You don't have to say anything," he told her and glanced up to her. "I never expected you'd accept it anyway."_

_"Stefan..." A frown claimed her features as she looked up to him._

"Is this how you're helping her to save us?"

Stefan's attention became divided when he heard Kol's voice behind him. Looking up, he turned his head to see the original on the other side of Henrietta's bed. "It was a traveler," he said. "They attacked her." He turned his eyes back to Henrietta's sleeping form. The oil lamp on her night stand had cast an ominous golden light which made her fair skin glow an orange tone, and the flickering shadows defined her soft features as she laid there peacefully.

"Which almost got her killed!" Kol pointed out. Suddenly he was standing in front of Stefan with his arms folded over his chest.

Stefan let out a sigh as he sat there on the edge of Henrietta's bed and watched her. "I know..."

"Do you? Because, it looks to me like you both were a little reckless."

"I know, Kol!" Stefan turned his head to look up at the original.

"You know, I'm starting to worry that she wont pull it off," Kol told him as his eyes shifted to Henrietta. "She's not nearly as strong as that Bennet witch."

"She'll do it..."

"And how can you be so sure?" Kol's eyes turned back to him.

"Because she has to." Stefan reached out to her and brushed a few stray strands of hair from her face gently. "Did you hear anything from the witches?"

"Nothing but jibber-jabber. Some of their conversations are obnoxious, really."

"So you only came here to harass me?"

"I came here to remind you that she's our only shot at this, Mate. Don't screw it up."

Stefan was quiet for a second as he let Kol's words linger in his mind. He wasn't sure how he could keep her from being attacked if any other travelers came after her. "Why did the traveler attack her?" he asked, but he already had an idea of the reason.

"To keep her from changing the future. They want the Other Side to crash and burn so they can live out their little fantasy of everything being right in the world. It doesn't surprise me that they'd be loyal enough to keep trying when they're dead."

"So we'll have to watch over her."

"We?"

Stefan glanced to him, "You want to be saved, don't you? I couldn't keep that traveler down by myself."

"That's because you don't know how to fight. I've been here longer than you, Darling. I've learned a few things."

"Then why didn't you help?" Stefan turned to face him.

"I tried to." Kol's brows knotted as he looked to Stefan. "I was little preoccupied on my end with other travelers. Buddies, no doubt, of the one you dealt with."

"They're attacking others on the Other Side?"

"What can I say? They're loyal. And while I respect that, It's problematic to my goal."

Stefan sighed and looked back to Henrietta. These travelers were trying to make sure she couldn't save everyone. Watching her sleep, he remembered that even if they did manage to avoid the travelers, she still had to find a way to live for a hundred and fifty years.

"Do you know any way to keep her from aging?" Stefan asked.

"What?" Kol's face had a look of confusion with the change of subject.

"She has to make it to twenty-fourteen, right?"

"..." Kol's jaw became more defined as he looked at him. Then his eyes shifted back to Henrietta silently. Stefan was right; Witch or not, she was still mortal and susceptible to aging. Even if she managed to be the healthiest person on the planet, she wouldn't make it a hundred and fifty more years. "Perhaps a preservation spell would work," he offered with a shrug. "I don't know. One kept my mother's body from decomposing in her death, it may work to keep her from aging."

"You wouldn't happen to know one, would you?"

"No."

Another sigh left Stefan as he looked back to Henrietta.

"What of this grimoire you two found? Is there nothing in there?"

"It's dark magic," Stefan told him. "She doesn't deal with dark magic..."

"She doesn't, or you wont let her?"

Stefan turned his head to look at him with a stern expression.

"Dark or not, it's magic. If she could use it to save us, then she needs to learn it."

"Using a spell from that grimoire put her in this bed, Kol. She may not survive using another."

"Absorbing a spirit is unheard of," Kol told him as a nurse walked into the room. Both he and Stefan watched her for a second as she stepped right through Kol to place a heated cloth on Henrietta's head. "The witches were surprised to see that happen. They let her trap him, but they weren't counting on her absorbing him." He continued to watch the nurse as he spoke. "But they're so desperate now, that they're not sure what to think of the act. They're calling it a disgrace, but most are convinced it was necessary. This grimoire might have what she needs to know."

Stefan glanced up to him before he looked back to Henrietta as the nurse checked her pulse. He didn't want to admit it, but Kol had a point.

"Perhaps my mother would know a thing or two..." Kol turned his attention back to him and Stefan turned his head back towards Kol to stare up at him.


	5. Chapter 5

Kol and Stefan searched for a while to find Esther, but the Other Side was a vast place. Stefan almost forgot that it stretched across the entire planet. Spending the last few years in Mystic Falls, he'd been caught in the illusion that everything was set in the small town of Virginia. But Stefan wasn't sure how long they had been looking for her or how long he'd been away from Henrietta. He hadn't checked on her to see if she had woken up and was alright. But he hadn't run into her on the Other Side either. He figured that was good, at least she hadn't died... He hoped.

"You boys are wasting your time," Esther said as she shook her head lightly and looked at the two in front of her.

"There has to be something. What about the preservation spell?" Stefan desperately asked.

"It only works on the dead," She told him.

"Do you know any other spells to keep her alive?"

"All spells besides the immortality spell wont last long enough."

"But the immortality spell will turn her into a vampire, she wont be able to use magic."

"And this is why you two are wasting your time. This place can't be saved, only destroyed."

Stefan and Kol turned their heads to exchange troubled looks when they heard the news. A slight defeat washed over Kol as he looked away. His brows wrinkled. His own mother just told them it was useless. If the other side couldn't be saved, then what was going to happen to them.

"But the other witches are saying she can save us," Kol said as he looked back to his mother slowly.

Esther nodded as she looked to her son. "Us, yes. But not this place. This place is doomed no matter how hard she tries."

"But she can save everyone here?" Stefan asked.

"Yes."

"Do you mean that she can bring us all back?" Kol blurted.

Esther nodded.

"Everyone?"

She nodded again.

Kol and Stefan had a shared shocked expression on their faces. The idea that Henrietta could actually bring back everyone on the other side was unimaginable.

"But it's important that she-" Flames suddenly engulfed the witch. She shrieked out in her distress and the two vampires watched in shock and horror as her form quickly disintegrated in the flames. The two vampires backed away. Hearing chanting behind them, they turned around and were faced with travelers walking towards them.

"They found us..." Kol said as they backed away from the travelers.

"How do we get rid of them?"

"You have to destroy them."

"What? Destroy them? Like cease to exist destroy?"

"None have come back that I've destroyed. Seems that way."

Stefan wasn't sure how he felt about destroying someone's soul, to completely remove them from existence. It was worse than killing someone. But if it was the only way out of this...

He kept his eyes locked on the travelers as they kept coming towards them. "Alright. How do I do it?"

Kol's lips pulled into a small smirk. "I'm starting to like you, Mate." Suddenly he was missing from Stefan's side and reappeared from a vaporous form behind a traveler. Kol shoved his hands through their back and, with effort, pulled in either direction as the traveler screamed, their form beginning to tear from the middle and emit a blinding white light before they were ripped apart and the light exploded to fill the area briefly.

The traveler was gone.

The others were still chanting.

As they continued, Kol began to scream and he began to glow as his form threatened to shatter.

Others began to scream as well and Stefan looked towards the travelers to see some being torn. He shielded his eyes as the lights blinded him, but when he looked back to see them; Lexi, Alaric, and Finn were attacking more of the travelers, and Kol had stopped glowing as he fell to his knees and regained himself.

"Stefan, look out!" Lexi called over to him as she grabbed a traveler.

Stefan turned around just in time to see a traveler coming for him. His arms shot out. He thrust his hands into the chest of the traveler and pulled. It took more effort than he thought as he struggled to pull the traveler apart, but he'd managed to rip the traveler in half before being blinded again.

As the light faded, Stefan noticed more travelers appearing in wisps of smoke-like forms before they took on their human forms. He recognized most of them being from Sloan's coven, but as more appeared, he began to recognize less and less of them until he had no idea who any of them were.

"Protect the witch!" He heard Finn call out. Stefan turned as Finn tore another traveler in front of Kol, protecting his younger brother. The recovering original looked up at his brother, in pain, before disappearing in his own burst of smoke.

Stefan turned back around and faced the coming travelers. He rushed with vampiric speed and ripped another traveler. He felt empty as he kept fighting. His vision faded from time to time. He could feel his form losing strength. The travelers were trying to destroy him as he ripped them one by one. But that rage came back to him. The deep anger. It fueled him as he kept fighting. Soon he found himself disappearing from where he stood then reappearing in front of the next traveler. Stefan kept going as his mind went blank and his eyes darkened.

A war broke out. Faces he hadn't seen in a long time were appearing all around him to join the fight. Pearl, Harper, Sheila... He even thought he saw who he assumed to be his doppelganger, Tom.

~ღ~

He didn't know how long he'd been fighting. He'd lost count of how many people he'd destroyed. He wasn't entirely sure who was on who's side throughout the ordeal until someone came after him. Stefan was nearly destroyed himself in the mess. Thankfully he had friends who backed him up, even those who weren't his friends in life had fought along side him; Mason Lockwood had torn a traveler when it began to chant at Stefan which caused him to glow like Kol had. After the traveler had been destroyed, Mason and Stefan exchanged quick looks between each other before they continued to fight. But eventually the fight began to slow down.

Stefan had been more exhausted than he'd ever known. When it all seemed to stop, he couldn't even bring himself to speak to his old friends. A simple smile took so much out of him that he could feel himself start to fade. Stefan looked over to Lexi and pushed himself to smile at her, but that's when he blacked out. His form faded away.


End file.
